This specification relates generally to spell checking and spell correcting. Search engines, which are often utilized in an on-line browser environment, have become a common tool for locating and retrieving documents, relevant websites and other relevant information residing on wide area networks, such as the internet, or residing on local area networks. There are various search engines that can be accessed via the internet, and various websites include search boxes on their webpages so that a user can enter natural language search queries in order to locate and access relevant information. The search engine that is accessed will generate results responsive to the search query and will return the search results to the user. The search results that are provided are based on the search terms of the search query as entered by the user.
However, often, users may enter a misspelled term, which if not detected and corrected, can adversely affect the search results. Therefore, many search engine tools have a spell-check and spell-correct feature. If a likely spelling error is detected, the tool can notify the user of the misspelled term and can even make suggestions for a correction to the misspelling. However, extensive spell checking can result in delays in returning the search results, particularly depending on the length of the search query and the number of terms that are spell-checked and corrected.